Rivalry renewed, Sturgis, TR to meet

For the second consecutive Friday night, Sturgis and Three Rivers will meet with a district title on the line, this time in a battle between the boys.

It is also a repeat of last year's title game in Comstock, won by the Trojans, 50-29.

Sturgis 41, Paw Paw 39

Sturgis' Eduardo Portillo's steal and layup with 27 seconds left put the Trojans ahead and they held on for a two-point victory.

"I saw them (Patrick Haas and Tyler Bennett) trap it and I saw a (Paw Paw) guy open and I knew he was going to pass it to him," Portillo said. "I anticipated and stole it. I really wanted that steal, I didn't want the season to end early."

The play came after Sturgis missed on the offensive end. The Trojans employed the press and forced the turnover at midcourt. Portillo picked it off and had a free lane to the basket.

"Eduardo is the consummate role player, the consummate plugger, a silent warrior," Sturgis coach Keith Kurowski said. "He came up big with his defensive effort as well maneuvering in the lane in the second half. He played one of the better games he played in a while and we needed every bit of it."

After another defensive stop by Sturgis, the Redskins were forced to foul. Chance Stewart, who was 9-for-10 from the line in the fourth quarter, nailed two for a 40-37 lead with 11.3 seconds left.

"We had some breakdowns on defense in the fourth quarter, but I thought we played solidly for three quarters," Kurowski said. "They hit some big shots in the fourth quarter and it really could have gone either way tonight."

The Trojans choose to foul instead of letting Paw Paw get a 3-point shot off. The Redskins' Tanner Eubank connected on both to close within one with 6.8 seconds remaining.

Stewart was fouled again with 3.3 seconds to go and he hit the first. The second was missed, but by the time the Redskins were able to corral the rebound, they were unable to get a shot off before the buzzer.

"They play tough defense, they had two guys around me all night," Stewart said. "It was tough on me, but we hit shots tonight. It wasn't working inside early, so we were knocking down shots (from the outside). We shot with confidence."

Sturgis looked like it might have an easy game early. A pair of Patrick Haas triples helped the Trojans to an early 8-2 lead. They led 10-4 after one quarter.

Jalen Cox took over from behind the arc in the second quarter, hitting three straight as the Trojan lead increased to 19-6.

"Fortunately we were able to get off to that double-digit cushion in the first half," Kurowski said.

Sturgis led 21-8 at halftime.

"We came out and shot the ball extremely well in the first half," Kurowski said. "I wasn't happy with the way we shot the other night. Jalen Cox and Patrick Haas really responded. The key was we need to make shots, because they're going to try and take away Chance."

Kurowski knew that the Redskins had the talent to come back in the second half and they did.

"I told the boys at halftime, we probably couldn't have shot any better and they probably couldn't have shot any worse," Kurowski said. "Maybe I should not have. They're going to make shots and they're going to make it a close ballgame and we need to persevere in the fourth quarter, take care of the ball, make foul shots and make enough stops to be able to survive tonight."

They battled to close the gap to 28-21 as Christian Brian hit a triple just before the buzzer to end the period.

Paw Paw scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter and tied it at 28-28 on a trey by Kyle Williams. After two free throws by Stewart, the Redskins got their first lead since the opening minute on another triple by Williams.

Four lead changes and a tie followed before Portillo made the final lead change with his steal.

Stewart led the Trojans with 18 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Cox tallied 11 and three assists, Haas finished with six, Portillo added four and Carl Limburg had two.

DeMarcus Leak topped the Redskins with 11, Williams finished with nine, Sean Brennan scored six, Brian ended with five and Parker Marcon and Eubank each had four.

Three Rivers 61, Vicksburg 49

Three Rivers took the lead early in the second quarter, played strong defense and slowly pulled away to the district semifinal win.

"The team really brought it tonight," Three Rivers coach Mike Carhart said. "All of our guys were extremely unselfish tonight and it led to a big victory for us."

Alex Cottingham, who led the Wildcats with 20 points, hit a 3-pointer with 6:00 remaining in the second period to put Three Rivers ahead, 15-13.

"it's hard to go anywhere and find a guy who finishes better than Alex," Carhart said. "He is so great with that hesitation, head fake underneath. The fact that he finishes so well, everybody jumps at it. He bluffs it and works off it."

The Wildcats built the margin to 31-20 by halftime.

"They're typically a decent 3-point shooting team, but they're not phenomenal," Carhart said. "We challenged our guys to go after the ball and double team him (Abe Barwegen) and bust it back as fast as you can and get on your guy.Our guys took the challenge and ran with it."

The third quarter saw the teams exchange buckets for eight minutes, while Three Rivers maintained a 40-30 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

The Wildcats scored the first eight points of the final period on a three-point lay by Austin Pratt, a 3-pointer by Brady Reeves and a layup by Cottingham off a pass from Anderson Goff.

"Anderson was phenomenal," Carhart said. "We've been waiting for him to come out all season. He has had a really long season. Last year, we had more scorers on offense and Anderson fed off that. That's not the way this team is built, so it took a little adjustment on his part. Today he put it all together. He scored, he passed, he rebounded. There was nothing on the court he didn't do for us."

The 48-30 edge was the largest lead of the game.

Vicksburg tried to make a run, but the Three Rivers defense would not allow the Bulldogs to get the deficit back into single digits the balance of the contest.

"We wanted to trap their pick and rolls, they run pick and rolls better than any of the teams you see in this conference," Three Rivers coach Mike Carhart said. "We wanted to take that away. They got a little bit confused and we were able to get some turnovers and easy buckets."

Goff finished with 11 points for the Wildcats, Reeves tossed in nine, Connor Smith added seven, Corry Brown and Ryan Satkowski each added four and Trenton Karle and Pratt each had three.

Abe Barwegen topped the Bulldogs with 15 points, Colin McCaw threw in 14, Solomon Barwegen and Jarred Whited each tallied six and PJ Callahan and Grant Johnson each had four.

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